The Forgotten Twin
by Warrior Nerd
Summary: What if Azula had a twin sister? How will Zuko's sweet tempered little sister affect the war?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first story for A:TLA and the first one I have posted online at all. Please read, enjoy and review! :D**

Epilogue

As the contractions intensified, Ursa's one year old son was rushed from the room, so as to make her more comfortable during child birth.

Laying there sweating, a baby girl was lifted before her eyes. The girl had coal black hair and golden eyes like her brother.

"Azula," smirked Ozai, oblivious to his wife's suffering. This was the name they had agreed on to honor the fire lord.

His wife cried out again, but he was too wrapped up in the glint in his daughter's eyes. He remained unknowing until the wailing of another child split the air.

This unexpected baby girl had strange golden hair to match her light gold eyes.

The fire lord frowned at this change in events,

"Why is her hair like that?" he demanded. "What is wrong with her?

"S-Sir," mumbled the healer. "I'm sure it'll fall out and she will grow gorgeous black locks like yourself.

"Humph," grumbled the prince, unaware of the blatant flattery.

"Laza," whispered Ursa, taking the strange child in her arms.

Seven Years later.

Laza never outgrew the blonde mop on her head. Because of this she was an outcast shunned by everyone, including her twin sister, except her mother and older brother.

Zuko doted on his little sister, who lacked the malicious glint in Azula's eyes.

Laza kept her hair chopped off at her chin, rather than put it in a topknot like her siblings.

She hated the deep reds of her native country, a stark and embarrassing contrast to her light hair. Instead she preferred the greens of the earth kingdom traders

She had, however, once made the mistake of wearing them in front of her father, who had beaten her, saying that a princess of the fire nation should not, under any circumstances be wearing such common garb.

After her father became fire lord, and her mother disappeared, things weren't the same. Before, as a princess, she had certain privileges. Now she was treated no better than a servant, even preferring to take the hidden servant passage ways in the walls, so as not to be seen.

She would even hide in the trees in the courtyard, especially the one, gnarled one by the turtle duck pond, under which, she Zuko and her mother used to feed turtle ducks.

One Year Later

When Laza's brother, whom she adored, was disgraced and castoff by the family, she saw a way out. She went off with Zuko and her uncle Iroh.

**A/N: So how'd I do? Please review, I'd love to know what you think! New chapters soon, I promise!**


	2. Freedom Finally

A/N: To my wonderful readers, ya'll are awesome! I can't believe how many of you subscribed already! Keep on reading and reviewing!

Oh, and by the way, currently, Laza is nine, and Zuko is ten. Late on in this fic, everyone is going to be older than in the show, I'll let you know when we are caught up to the present.

…...

Freedom Finally

Laza stretched, a hard foreign bed beneath her. Where in the four kingdoms did she fall asleep?

Sitting up to fast, her head spun, while trying to understand the unfamiliar settings. In a rush, it came back to her, the agni kai. Zuko getting burned and being cast out of the family. And then the part where she sided against the fire nation, walked out on her birthright.

What the heck? What did she care about her birthright? It's not like she was going to get the throne anyway. It's not like she wanted it. Her "unfortunate" coloring, as her father called it, would have prevented her from taking control of the fire nation, let alone keeping it.

"Laza," called the farmiliar voice of her brother. "You up yet?"

He came into the room, voice still muffled from sleep. Laza gasped, thick white bandages covered the entire left side of his face, plastering his burnt skin.

"Does it-,"

"Hurt? Like Hell."

"Zuko!"

"What? I'm ten, I can curse! And I think that it's justified now."

Laza huffed, disapproving of her brother's habits. Little did she know, she would soon leave her court manners behind, replacing them with more common, vulgar ways of life.

"I'm going to do it you know."

"What?" she asked quietly.

"You know."

She sighed. "You're going to go after the avatar."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay."

"Well that was easy."

"You're going to it anyway, I might as well come and try to keep you out of trouble."

He ruffled her hair, saying, "Not sure that's possible Lazie."

She knocked away his hand. "Don't call me that," she grumbled. "Get out."

"Don't you want breakfast?"

"No."

"Can't stay mad at me forever," he sang.

"'Spose not," she sighed.

"Come on then."

…

Later On.

Laza danced across the deck of the ship, fire streaming from her hands as she twisted and kicked for her uncle, who was sitting next to her sweaty brother, still tired from his practice.

"Excellent, Laza," grunted her uncle in his gravelly voice.

"Thank you Uncle," she grinned.

"I think that Zuko will need you on his quest."

Zuko looked the other way pointedly. "She's okay."

Iroh chuckled. Knowing that Zuko felt his sisters surpassed him. This may have been true early on, but not anymore.

A/N: So you guys inspired me to write another chapter in another day. I promise things will start picking up soon. Reviews please! Thanks to chickenchic for my only one so far! This chapter was dedicated to you.

New chapters soon!

-The Warrior Nerd


	3. Nicknames and Hiccups

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to anyone who subscribed to or favorited my fanfiction. However, a special shout out once again to chickenchick, for 2 reviews. My only ones.

*sigh*

R&R!

Oh, and currently, Zuko is still 10 and Laza is still nine. In the next chapter it will be the beginning of the show.

...

*At Breakfast One Morning*

"So what's the plan?"

"What plan?"

"Um, to find the avatar, Zuko."

"Oh, uhh..."

"Okay, seriously? We've been on this stupid ship what, three weeks? And you haven't even come up with an attack plan?"

"Well, he's been missing for a hundred years."

"How old was he when he disappeared?"

"Eleven."

"Okay, so he's probably dead."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, we go to the Northern Water tribe."

"Why not the Southern Water tribe?"

"Are you really that dumb?"

"Ummm..."

"Because dad wiped out all of their waterbenders, the last one was killed two years ago."

"Right." Laza sighed, "which means, that the new avatar, who is a waterbender, was born in the North Pole."

"OOhhh," said Zuko. "So all we have to do is search the Northern Water Tribe."

"Well Zuko, I hate to break this to you, but you're only ten, and I'm only nine. Theoretically, the new avatar could be twenty or more now, which is plenty time to learn the four elements."

"Right, so we train."

"So we train our buts off."

"We will be able to defeat the avatar and bring him/her to the fire lord. And then I will regain my honor. Get ready to work your but off preparing to fight the avatar, Lazie."

"Quit calling me that!"

"Fat chance."

"Shut UP!" A malicious smile spread over her face. "Zuzu."

"HEY," he protested.

She doubled over laughing. Instead of the dainty giggle of a princess, of Azula, it came out loud barks.

Her unseemly fit set Zuko in an uncontrollable bout of laughter as well. *hic* Laza covered her mouth, her cheeks burning red.

Zuko only laughed harder, until his chuckles dissolved on hiccups as well. ...

A/N: Three chapters in three days! Wow, I am on a roll! If you want longer chapters, let me know, it will take me longer to update though. I was thinking maybe a chapter per

episode, so this fic will be pretty long.

Send me reviews to let me know how you feel about the chapter, and how you feel about the chapter length debate!

- The Warrior Nerd


	4. Found

**A/N: I'm sorry! So sorry! My computer died and it took this long to get a new one and download the necessary applications.**

**Currently these are the ages: Zuko: 17, Laza: 16, Sokka: 17, Katara: 16, Aang: 15.**

…

"I'm telling you, this is a stupid idea."

Zuko simply shook his hair out of his eyes. He cut it off when they left the Fire Nation.

"What the hell, lets waste more of our lives while the earth avatar gets stronger."

"Maybe the water avatar was born to the southern tribe after all."

Laza stormed off, determined to ignore her brother until they got the water village and she proved herself right. They had worked their way through every water bender in the Northern Tribe, and yet no avatar.

Laza remembered the way he had strutted around once he had proved her wrong.

_*Flashback*_

"_I told so."_

"_Whatever, these people are probably lying and their avatar already died."_

"_Doubt it, and guess what?"_

"_What," she growled, her patience was waning._

"_Told you so," He shouted gleefully, like a small child on a sugar high._

"_Go _away_!"_

"_It's my ship, I can do what I like."_

_The mini-battle that had ensued had cost them a whole month to get the ship repaired._

_*End Flashback*_

…

It was later on when Laza had finally stopped steaming, literally steaming, that she heard her brother across the ship from where she was sitting, "Hey Lazie."

"What the fuck? Can't you quit with the nicknames already Zuzu?" She grudgingly made her way to his side.

He shoved her in retaliation and then pointed.

"I bet it's the avatar!" He grinned wickedly. He was pointing to a dying blue lightin the distance. "Helmsmen, set a course for the light."

"Or it's just the natural southern lights."

"In the day? Fat Chance."

"Can you two please stop bickering please? For two minutes while I finish my game of cards."

"Yes uncle," they bowed in unison and walked over to the small fixed table on the deck where Iroh was pondering over his piles of cards.

…

Laza wondered through the metal hallways, restless and unable to sleep.

She found her way to the balcony overlooking the main deck.

A familiar tousled black head met her as she walked through the glass door.

She reached out to put her hand on Zuko's shoulder and he turned around.

She smiled softly, "You should get some sleep."

"Sleep is for the weak, I need to keep watch."

"Okay seriously? There's already somebody keeping watch. And sleep is for the weak? Not sleeping makes you weak."

"'Kay," He consented.

…

The next morning, she was woken by a bright light in the distance, a flare of sorts.

She pulled on clothes and rushed to deck.

"What's going on?" she questioned a random crewmember.

Zuko was the one who answered. "We found the avatar." He was out of breath, and flushed. Victorious.

"And-"

"And what, you gonna rub it in?"

"And, he's an air bender."

"What, how?"

"I don't know, he must be something like a hundred and fifteen years old-"

"This is a problem-"

"You think I don't know that-"

"He's had all this time to train and-"

"We've only had seven years of hard core training-"

"This will be very-"

"Very-"

"Hard," they finished in unison, matching grimaces on their faces.

…

**A/N: And that is the end of episode one! You like? Let me know. I will try really hard not to disappear on you again. Promise. I will have another chapter up soon. **

**Oh.. and sorry for the minor cliffy.**

**-the Warrior Nerd**


	5. Water Peasants and Dragons

A/N: I. AM. SO. SORRY. I feel like a terrible person! But I'm back in school now and have many things to do. Unfortunately. I will, however strive to do better! I think that before Thanksgiving holidays are over I can get you this and another chapter. And then definitely some over Christmas.

Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately.

…

Laza sat near the prow of the ship as boat sliced it's way throughout the ice. As the boat gradually made its way toward the low wall of snow in the distance, a flare lit up the sky. Not the supernatural light of before, but an actual, man made flare.

As they were almost to the puny village, Zuko stepped out on deck, all armored up.

"Looks like someone's playing dress up again."

"Shut it, the warriors of the water tribe were legendary in their day."

"Yes, well, its our day, not theirs, and you look foolish," Laza snorted. "Anyway, with that hair in your face you hardly look official."

"Whatever. Why don't you go get ready?"

Laza stretched, her arms extended skyward, and yawned. "I was born ready."

Zuko humphed, and stalked off to give battle instructions.

…

They were using to arrowhead formation, with Zuko at the point, Laza back and to his right, and various soldiers placed behind them.

The rush of steam and the creak of metal brought a blast of cold air into the belly of the ship.

The group descended the platform, surveying the small group of ice/fur huts. And with it, the small group of people clustered together.

As the reached the snow, a boy bedecked with war paint and weapons pulled out a traditional club and ran at Zuko. Zuko, not being one for nonsense, knocked the club from his hand and sent him flying with a flick go his wrist and a kick to the gut.

This boy seemed to be the only warrior present in the village, and if all the water tribe warriors were as weak as him, they were truly past their prime as a warrior culture.

Zuko and Laza stepped ahead of the halted formation and quickly surveyed the handful of peasants before them.

"Where are you hiding him?" Zuko's voice cut through the silence.

When no one answered him, he stepped forward and grabbed an old woman, shaking her from the grip of a girl near Laza's age.

"He'd be about this age, master of all elements!" Again, Zuko's terse voice was the only sound.

When no one answered, Zuko shoved the woman back towards her people, and in the same movement, sent an arc of fame over the heads of the water tribe.

"I know you're hiding him."

"AHhhhhhh..," Came the yell from behind them, from the boy in the war paint.

Zuko, more fed up than before, rolled the boy over his shoulders and onto the ground, disarming him at the same time.

He also sent a quick blast of fire at the boy as a warning.

The boy then sent some other sort of weapon, Laza could not tell what it was, it was spinning much to fast, spiraling towards Zuko's head. Zuko promptly sidestepped and glared at the boy.

At this point, a small boy of about six grabbed a spear and tossed it to this almost warrior, proclaiming, "Show no fear!"

The boy caught it deftly and ran, this time towards Laza. She used a spinning kick (mostly for show) to behead the spear, and then grabbed it and broke it in half.

At this point a whirring noise, followed by by a clang, brought back the spinning weapon…right into the back of Zuko's helmet.

Laza, who found the whole encounter hilarious, burst out laughing.

Zuko, who was growling at the boy, was less than amused.

His hands burst into twin flames as he glared at the not-warrior before him.

At this exact moment, a slight boy came riding in on, I kid you not, a penguin.

This penguin knocked Zuko over, which sent his helmet flying, and deposited the boy on the ground.

"I told you to leave of the helmet," came Laza's ry voice. "Even the bird thinks you looked stupid."

While Laza was busy making fun of Zuko, the boy, who had blue arrows on his head and hands, greeted the water peasants.

Zuko signaled for the soldiers to form a circle around the boy.

Said boy glanced around warily before using a strange sort of staff to blow snow into the faces of the soldiers, and in turn Zuko and Laza.

Zuko, incredulous, asked, "You're the airbender? You're the avatar?"

From the outbursts of the villagers, it was clear that he had hidden his identity from them.

They squared off, Zuko and Laza on one side, the avatar not the other.

"We've spent years training for this, honing our skills, and hoping to be good enough." Zuko's voice was almost hurt. "You're only a child."

The boy, with devastating logic, replied, "Well you're only a teenager."

At this, Zuko's face contorted with rage, and he lost his temper.

"Oh dear," came Laza's murmur, knowing that there was no reasoning with her brother when he was like this.

His fire bending was weak, she knew, because he relied on his anger.

…

FLASHBACK

_"Uncle, there's no one around here, no ones lived here for ages."_

_"You'd be surprised. The sun warriors were mighty people. There may still be some around."_

_"I don't see what this has to do with fire bending. Or why Zuko couldn't come."_

_"You will understand soon enough. And your brother is not yet ready for this. He still depends far to much on his anger."_

_..._

_"Uncle?"_

_"Yes Laza?"_

_"Are we gonna die here?"_

_"No, we are no going to die. Someone will come fish us out by nightfall."_

_"I told you not to touch that egg."_

_"Nonsense! You said no such thing!"_

_Laza giggled, feeling the goo pull at her sides as she laughed._

_"We are the Sun Warriors! Who are you to tread in the sacred temple of the dragon?"_

_"Alam Mara? Is that you?"_

_"Well, I'll be damned! It's the old dragon of the west! And it's chief now."_

_"Well, Chief, this is my niece, Laza."_

_"Nice hair, kid."_

_Laza, in all her eleven years of age, stuck out her tongue. _

_..._

_As the two aardvark sloths licked the sticky substance off of Laza and Iroh, the Sun Warrior Chief inquired as to why they were there._

_"I't's not as if I'm not happy to see you Iroh, but why have you come?"_

_"Well, it's Laza here. Her fire bending has lost something, and she isn't one to hold on to anger."_

_"Hmmm…Laza?"_

_"Yes sir?"_

_"Would you like to train with our masters?"_

_"Yes sir!'_

_"Very well. We start at sunrise."_

_..._

_"This, is the first fire. We have kept it going since the dragons delivered onto us, and will keep it going until the world stops turning."_

_Laza bobbed her head up and down, eager to learn._

_"To prove yourself to the masters, you must take a piece of this flame from here to the top of the mountain. It is not an easy task. Make the flame to small, and it goes out. Make it to big, and you lose control. This exercise is about balance. Can you do it?"_

_"Yes-"_

_"Don't tell me. Show the masters."_

_With this, the Chieftain laid a small piece of fire in her hands._

_As Laza made her way of the mountain, she did not notice that she was alone, instead she concentrated on breathing in, Breathing out, and having the fire breathe with her._

_When she reached the top, there was her uncle, smiling, encouraging. And there was the chief, who was impressed in spite of himself, that this tiny girl had understood, and completed the first challenge._

_However, more was still to come. He walked forward and used his hands to take two small bits of her flame, which he then departed to two of the sun warriors. It was then that Laza registered the sun warriors all stood in a circle._

_As they passed on the flame, they shared it, each creating a ring of fire with their hands._

_The chief walked to the head of the circle, just before a long series of steps, and called out, "CHANTERS!"_

_The sun warriors who kneeled on the ground before drums, started beating on them, reciting some sort of primal chant._

_Through some previously hidden instinct, she walked forward onto the steps and started to ascend._

_She reached the top of the steps, where there was a long platform connecting to large caves. She stopped in the center of this platform, facing neither of the caves, nor the steps, but instead the rising sun._

_Then the chiefs's commanding voice from below. "She who wishes to meet the masters Ran and Shaw will now present her fire."_

_She bowed toward the sun, one leg behind the other, arms stretched out in front of her, head bowed, offering her flame._

_The same voice from below: "Sound the call!"_

_Only a few moments later, there was a deep rumbling horn blown._

_The platform started to shake. Laza held the worshipping stance. The rumbling increased steadily, as Laza waited, her heart pounding. What if they refused to train her?_

_And then, from each cave burst a dragon, one red and one blue. Laza watched, her eyes wide, as they flew around the platform, surprisingly agile. _

_And, through the same buried instinct, Laza began to dance. The movements were the same as the ones shown by the statues in the temple where she and her uncle had been trapped. She spilt her fire in two and danced in unison with the dragons. Their went on and on, around in circles they went. Until finally, they stopped, Laza once again facing the sun. But this time, she was facing two dragons as well._

_The dragons set down, opened their mouthes and out poured fire, beautiful, awe inspiring, multicolored flame that went on and on. It only lasted for a few minutes, but to Laza it felt like days._

END FLASHBACK

…

Her brother needed that, that beautiful reason to bend, not this anger and hate against their father.

Zuko oblivious to his sister's thoughts, continued to shoot bursts of fire at the avatar. The avatar grimaced, as he barely defended the water tribe from the heat.

When he heard the shrieks of the children, something changed in his face, something important.

"If I go with you, do you promise to leave them alone?" He was not asking, he was demanding.

Zuko, though he would rather fight, nodded his consent. Laza let out a long sigh, glad that her brother was at least seeing sense again.

As the soldiers grabbed the avatar, The girl who was Laza's age cried out, "No Aang, don't do this!" So his name was Aang then. Hmm.

Aang looked over his shoulder and told her, "Don't worry Katara, it'll be okay."

Laza snorted. Yeah, for her maybe. You could barely fend off my brother. Let alone me.

Back on deck, Zuko shouted to the helmsman, "HEAD A COURSE FOR THE FIRE NATION!" Under his breath he added, "I'm going home."

Laza sighed. She would have to tell him then. She had no intention of going anywhere near the fire nation again.

...

When she was up on deck again, Laza walked over to Zuko, dreading asking him to set her down at the next port.

"Hey, Laza. Can you escort him to the prison hold?" Zuko jerked his thumb towards the boy.

"Yeah," her voice was quiet, conceding.

She walked over to the soldiers who were currently gripping his shoulders. "I've got it from here."

She hooked a finger in his metal handcuffs as the soldiers walked back to their posts.

"Try anything and I scorch you."

Aang twisted around to see her face. "Nice hair."

"If you're not careful I'll scorch you anyway."

...

When she had successfully locked the avatar in a cell, she wandered back upstairs.

Then, the worst, and best words she could hear, came from below decks. "The Avatar has escaped!"

A few moments later, her brother and the avatar tumbled out of the sky, along with the glider/staff.

Zuko's face paled, and Laza looked where he was looking, and her eyes met an impossible feat. A flying bison. And, on it's back, the almost-warrior and the whiney girl from the village.

The avatar's face split into a huge smile, and he started to call out "Appa-" When Zuko cut him off with a pitiful bit of fire.

This did however manage to knock Aang almost off the boat.

They continued to fight, well, Zuko kept throwing flames at Aang and Aang continued to dodge them. Until Zuko had Aang against the wall, his staff knocked out of reach. One last blast of fire, and the avatar was knocked over the edge, into the freezing water below.

Zuko, who was apparently not done raging, yelled "LAZA! Get down here."

It was at this point that Laza realized that she had been standing around on the upper deck, not doing anything. "Sorry!" came her quick reply, "Be right down!"

She raced down the many flights of stairs. Along the way all she could think was "Who designed a boat with so many fucking stairs?"

By the time she reached the front deck, and her brother, the deck was awash with ice, and several soldiers where frozen head to toe. The only sign of the avatar was a dot in the sky, the bison.

…

"So let me get this straight, His eyes and tattoos got all glory and he suddenly became really powerful?"

"Yes." Zuko was annoyed.

"And his friend's a water bender."

"Yes."

"I wonder why he started glowing."

"That sounds like he was in the avatar state," came the gravelly voice of Uncle Iroh. "In the avatar state he can draw on the power of all the other avatars."

"If he can do that on command, we're in trouble."

"That we are."

"Where to next?"

"Earth kingdom," said Zuko. "To restock and refuel."

"Seems about right."

…

A/N: Well that was a pretty long chapter. You know, in comparison. Again sorry, sorry, but I should have you another chapter on the 29th. As a birthday present to me, I'll give a present to you.

Sorry Again! -Warrior Nerd

(And please review, please, please?)


End file.
